Common Sense: Secure America
Republican-Conservative Assembly members Nicole Malliotakis and Ron Castorino are making solid headway in their efforts to stop New York City from destroying data used to issue Identification cards under the city’s IDNYC program.
In the majority of cases, the cards are issued to undocumented aliens who then can use them as a form of official government ID. State Supreme Court Judge Philip Minardo barred the city from destroying the documents at least until he can hold a hearing in his courtroom on January 5. Furthermore he encouraged the mayor and City Council Speaker Viverito to appear in person to explain and offer answers.
The assemblymembers maintain that destroying the collected data could enhance the ability of a terrorist or other criminal to evade authorities as well as reduce the ability of financial institutions to detect and prevent fraud. Their argument is not based on the legality of issuing the cards but rather on the destruction of the data used to create the individual card.